Living with Afib

[Summerlily]

I have done a lot of reading around this topic and listened to Dr Gupta's videos but I would just like some comments from other people going down a similar path .

I am a 67 years old woman , live on a smallholding , love long distant walking and doing Agility and Field trials with my dogs .

I had my first Afib episode last October , was rushed to A and E and came out with a bag full of drugs .

I had a Cardioversion last November which worked , with the help of Sotalol ,. until a month ago

I now find myself back on Amiodarone , 800mg for 3 days , now 200 mg for 15 days

My question is , can I just let my heart beat in the rhythm it wants to without further interventions or more heavy drugs ?

When it is in rhythm I am constantly worried that it will come out of rhythm , I think I feel more relaxed when I let it do its own thing !

If I do leave it , will this impact on my quality of life ?

I do take Magnesium and Vitamin C

I am sorry this is a rather ramberling post but would be so interested to hear your views if you have already been here yourseves

[Melbuckton]

Suggest typing in atrial fibrillation and dementia to a search engine.

[Nettekin in reply to Melbuckton]

Why dementia?

[Alison_L in reply to Melbuckton]

Crikey, AF is bad enough, don't give Summerlily dementia as well!

[TheLegalWriter in reply to Melbuckton]

Please explain. Better be clear.

[Fifimyangel]

Hi. I too have AF. I had a pacemaker fitted 9 yrs ago for heart block and and because I was having problems palpitations for yrs. Then last Sept everything changed. I started having awful bouts of tachycardia whenever I moved. It was taking over my life. I spent 3 days in hospital. I was put on bisoprolol which does help the tachycardia but I have awful side effects. A few weeks ago I had a few episodes of complete irregular heart beats that made me feel really unwell. Now they have diagnosed me with AF. I'm only taking bisoprolol at the moment and still waiting to see cardiologist. Dont really know where I go from here to be honest. Take care

[bowls12]

The only advice I can give is for you to discuss your concerns with the medical professional that prescribed Amiodarone. I took the drug for about 8 weeks, my heart settled into the normal rhythm and has been OK for over 2 years, even when exercising vigorously

[Visigoth in reply to bowls12]

Do you mean you took amiodarone only for eight weeks, or that it took eight weeks to work and since then you’ve been on it with no problems? I’m interested because I’m on amiodarone myself and it has been very successful at controlling my a fib and ectopics, although it also lowers my heart rate a lot and I do get some problems from that.

[Loveswimmimg]

I had several episodes of AF starting last July, they weren’t too debilitating at first but gradually got closer together and longer. I couldn’t really function properly while an episode was going on, although Bisoprolol improved things a bit. I was never prescribed any of the other drugs people mention and my consultant recommended catheter ablation, which I had in April this year. So far so good.It seems like you are not so bothered by your episodes of AF, but if you don’t want to take a lot of drugs forever then you could ask about ablation as a solution. Not sure what the waiting time would be on NHS, I am lucky to have private medical cover so I didn’t have to wait too long.

[Summerlily in reply to Loveswimmimg]

Thank you all for your replies . Looks as if I am heading for another Cardioversion and maybe an ablation .Am staying on Amiodarone until I see the cardiologist in three weeks

I hope all goes well for you all in the future

[TheLegalWriter]

It depends on:

1. How long does an episode of aFib last?

2. Do you feel severely impaired by being symptomatic?

3. What is the vision of your cardiologist?

4. Do you experience a rapid, lasting tachycardia?

While short episodes of aFib might not be debilitating in some, prolongated episodes of either tachycardia or aFib might worsen symptoms.

It would not make sense to scare you off by saying that episodes may become harmful, therefore I do not know enough with regards to your specific case. Example: if an episode runs for only a short amount of time and getting back to normal rhythm occurs by itself, you would likely not suffer any impairment at all.